NEWS CONFERENCE: TRA Director-General Jason Lu has offered to resign, while the agency has offered comfort funds to the families of the victims and to those injured

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 23, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

The Cabinet yesterday established a task force to investigate Sunday’s deadly train

accident in Yilan County.

The 15-member task force is led by Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成), while Bureau of High Speed Rail Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) serves as executive secretary and spokesman, Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said.

The task force yesterday visited the accident site and held its first meeting to establish the direction of the investigation, she said, adding that in keeping with a directive from Premier William Lai (賴清德), it would check all Puyuma Express trains to determine whether the service should be suspended.

The Taiwan Railways Administration’s (TRA) Safety and Investigation Committee and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Railway Bureau are also investigating.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei seems happy to exploit Sino-American tensions for its diplomatic struggle with Beijing. Perhaps it should cast its mind back to the 1960s – when the US openly debated nuclear war over its islands

South China Morning Post
Date: 21 Oct 2018
By: Cary Huang

As the confrontation between the United States and China escalates, Taiwan is being pushed back to the top of the agenda in American foreign policy circles.

And, for its part, Taipei seems keen to exploit this rare opportunity to strengthen its ties with the US, its most important protector, to boost its international standing, which has suffered major setbacks recently due to its diplomatic struggle with Beijing.

In his landmark speech that signalled a fundamental shift in US policy on China, at the Hudson Institute on October 4, US Vice-President Mike Pence took a forceful line on Taiwan, as he criticised efforts by Beijing to lure away the island’s diplomatic partners and force foreign companies to stop referring to it as a country.

Pence also praised Taiwan’s democratic development and criticised China’s authoritarian rule. “Taiwan’s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people,” he said.

Days later, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen used a speech at the National Day celebrations in Taipei to echo Pence’s rebuke to Beijing. Tsai said: “Our democratic transition lightens our dark past and provides a ray of light in the dark night for all those seeking democracy.”

Beijing is increasingly squeezing Taiwan’s international space. The island republic has lost five diplomatic allies since Tsai came to office in May 2016, and now has formal ties with only 17 small nations. But the more Beijing squeezes, the more support grows in Washington for the democratic, self-ruled island. President Donald Trump has signalled his determination to challenge Beijing’s cherished “one China” principle that underpins stable US-China relations vis-à-vis Taiwan. As president-elect, Trump shocked the world by having a phone conversation with Tsai. And now, as president, Trump has surrounded himself with a team of pro-Taiwan advisers and aides in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon. Among these are National Security Adviser John Bolton, who has suggested the US consider shifting diplomatic recognition back from Beijing to Taipei. Pence’s remarks about Taiwan also challenged the “one China” policy – a policy Washington has been committed to since it established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1979.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan is bulking up its coast guard, but the scope of ROC territory necessitates some tough decisions for its commanders.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/21
By: Wu Shang-Su

Taipei’s expansion of its coast guard fleet with four large offshore patrol vessels (OPV) demonstrates its concerns about Beijing’s assertiveness and potential policy responses on the South China Sea (SCS).

Since the early 2010s, Taiwan has significantly strengthened its coast guard fleet with larger capacity by acquiring seven 1,000-ton, two 2,000-ton, and two 3000-ton OPVs, as well as four 4,000-ton cutters that are under construction.

Taipei first deployed coast guard vessels to replace its marine garrisons in Itu Aba and Pratas in 1999. At the time, the Taiwanese coast guard did not have an adequate fleet to deploy in the SCS.

Before the four large OPVs, Taiwan’s coast guard fleet was second only to China’s among the SCS claimant states, but the distance makes such an advantage meaningless due to the limited operation period and number of deployed vessels Taipei could maintain.
[FULL  STORY]

One of the injured passengers has been identified as a 43-year-old American woman

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/21
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — 18 people have been killed, 6 missing and at least 168 others injured in a fatal train derailment in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan, Sunday afternoon, with one injured passenger being an American citizen.

The Puyuma express train, headed for Taitung (台東), had a total of 366 passengers onboard when it came off the tracks close to the Xinma Station in Su’ao (蘇澳鎭) at 4:50 p.m. on Oct. 21, according to Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).

The eight-carriage train came off the tracks, and five of them were completely overturned, causing 18 dead and 168 injured, 10 of whom are in serious condition at the time of publication. Yilan County Fire Bureau initially announced that there are no foreign passengers among those dead or injured. However, one of them was later identified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a 43-year-old U.S. citizen, a female who was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital Luodong.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/21
By: Shen Ju-feng, Lu Kang-chun, Wang Hung-kao, Lee Hsin-yin and Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) A survivor of Sunday’s fatal train derailment in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan, said that the driver had applied emergency brakes multiple times before the accident.

The eight-carriage Puyuma express that departed from New Taipei bound for Taitung derailed at 4:50 p.m at Xinma railway station in Yilan.

The train had 366 passengers on board. The accident killed 22 people and left at least 171 injured, including an American woman who was slightly injured, as of 9:30 p.m, according to Yilan firefighters.

According to the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA), all eight carriages of the tilting train left the track and four of them overturned.    [FULL  STORY]

EAST COAST TRAGEDY: Injured passengers were taken to four hospitals in Yilan County, including one in Suao, two in Luodong and one in Lanyang, the TRA said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 22, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Eighteen people were killed and 171 injured yesterday after an eastbound Puyuma

Express train, No. 6432, carrying 366 passengers, derailed at 4:50pm near the Sinma (新馬) Train Station in Yilan County, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said.

The agency had earlier put the death toll at 22, but at 10:45pm it lowered the number to 18.

All eight passenger cars jumped the tracks and five overturned, the TRA said.

Firefighters from Yilan County, New Taipei City and Keelung were dispatched, while the Ministry of National Defense deployed 120 military personnel, ambulances and other equipment to help with rescue efforts.    [FULL  STORY]

Reuters
Date: October 20, 2018

• Some current and former U.S. officials say U.S. warship passages in the Taiwan Strait are still too infrequent, and note that a U.S. aircraft carrier hasn’t transited the Taiwan Strait since 2007, during the administration of George W. Bush.
• Washington has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is the island’s main source of arms. The Pentagon says Washington has sold Taiwan more than $15 billion in weaponry since 2010.
• Military experts say the balance of power between Taiwan and China has shifted decisively in China’s favor in recent years, and China could easily overwhelm the island unless U.S. forces came quickly to Taiwan’s aid.

The United States is considering a new operation to send warships through the Taiwan Strait, U.S. officials tell Reuters, a mission aimed at ensuring free passage through the strategic waterway but which risks heightening tensions with China.

The U.S. Navy conducted a similar mission in the strait’s international waters in July and any repeat would be seen in self-ruled Taiwan as a fresh expression of support by President Donald Trump’s government.

The U.S. military declined comment and U.S. officials who discussed the deliberations, which have not been previously reported, did so on condition of anonymity. They did not discuss the potential timing for any fresh passage through the strait.

China views Taiwan as a wayward province and has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island. It raised concerns over U.S. policy toward Taiwan in talks this week with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Singapore.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s foreign care givers are ‘angels of mercy’ on the frontline of Taiwan’s aging society, but this does not mean calls for improvements to their circumstances should be ignored.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/20
By: Timothy Ferry, Taiwan Business TOPICS Magazine

The rise in the number of elderly in Taiwan is often broadly couched as a demographic and economic challenge. But for the millions of families struggling to care for frail and disabled family members, the struggle is all too personal. Confucian cultural values of “filial piety” forbid the placement of elders in retirement homes or assisted-living facilities, which in any case are often financially out of reach. State-sponsored nursing homes are last resorts for the desperate.

Yet keeping a disabled elder at home is a burden for most families, with many either stressed by a lack of financial resources with which to care for the aging relative, or the lack of time, or more often both. The passage of the Long-term Care Act 2.0 has expanded the range of services available for such families, including community care centers and subsidized home healthcare.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) provides subsidies of NT$180 (US$5.80) per hour for up to 25 hours per month for the elderly (and other groups, including the mentally disabled and disadvantaged aboriginals) with mild disability, 50 hours for those with moderate disability, and 90 hours for severe disability. The range of disability is assessed by professional social workers dispatched by the ministry at the request of the family. Services provided included basic physical care such as bathing, toileting, dressing, etc., as well as helping elders visit medical facilities and do shopping.    [FULL  STORY]

Police seized 1445g of cannabis from an airmail package

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/20
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An uncle and nephew were arrested earlier today (Oct. 20) after ordering an airmail package containing cannabis flowers.

The Aviation Police Bureau seized the package upon its arrival in Taiwan. The two claimed they only ordered dumbbells online and don’t know how their order “turned into” marijuana on its journey.

The Aviation Police Bureau said this evening the air traffic safety inspection team and Taiwan Customs seized four bags of cannabis, weighing a total of 1445 grams.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/20
By: Matt Yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) The first upgraded F-16 fighter jet, known as the F-16 Viper or F-

16V, has been delivered to the Air Force by state-owned aviation firm Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), an Air Force official said Saturday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that three other F-16Vs are currently undergoing extensive flight testing and are expected to be delivered to the Air Force by year-end.

The fighters are part of a NT$110 billion (US$3.68 billion) program launched by the government in 2016 to upgrade Taiwan’s 144 F-16 A/B jets into F-16Vs, the largest and most important upgrade ever undertaken by the Air Force.    [FULL  STORY]